Michael Cooney's father, Bernard ("Barney the Hat") Cooney, was born and raised in
Cicero, Illinois -- headquarters of famous prohibition mobster, Al Capone. When he
was 14 he would sometimes tell his mother he was going to church, then get his guitar
from the woodshed and sing in "speakeasies". Gangsters would cry and shove money
into his guitar. Later he sang table-to-table at restaurants with his brother on
violin. By then he knew hundreds of songs and had a reputation for being able to
sing any song requested. (His brother later played violin for two years in the Detroit
Symphony before they figured out he couldn't read music.) Maybe that's where Michael
got his ability to sing hundreds of songs of all kinds and play a whole carload of
instruments.

Michael was born in 1943 in Carmel, California and grew up (mostly) in Tucson, Arizona
(where his dad moved to manage the NBC radio station). His parents divorced early
and Michael spent much time in foster homes and the orphanage there and in California
during his early years. Hardly was he out of high school when he took to the road,
hitch-hiking and riding freight trains for two years -- to Boston and back, up the
west coast, to Colorado (where he spent a few months in Denver and Boulder, recovering
from the broken leg he got his first time skiing), ending up in California.

In 1963 Michael was quite popular in one club, "The Top of The Tangent" in Palo Alto,
where a local high school band that came regularly on amateur nights learned several
songs from him. That band went on to perform some of those songs as The Grateful
Dead.

But the lure of the "Mystic East" was irresistible, and in 1964 Michael went to New
York, then Boston. Since then he has lived in various parts of the northeast, plus
seven years in Toronto. In 1987, realizing a life-long dream, he moved to Maine where
he now lives in the small lobster-fishing village of Friendship, on the rocky coast.

Michael learned his music from hundreds of people, well-known and unknown. He credits
Pete Seeger and Sam Hinton for his interest in traditional folk music and the history
behind the songs. Also for his wanting to "help others to feel what I feel when I
hear this great old stuff". He credits Sam, and his old travelling partner, Grady
Tuck (now deceased) for his relaxed ("Perry Como school of folk music") performing
style.

Michael has been helping others to experience the beauty, power and humor of old
and new songs for over 50 years, in countless halls, clubs, coffeehouses, etc., in
the US, Canada, Mexico, Great Britain and Europe. He has performed, lectured or done
residencies at hundreds of US and Canadian colleges and schools of all levels. He
has performed at most of the major North American folk festivals (some many times),
including The National Folk Festival, Smithsonian, Newport, Philadelphia, Mariposa,
Winnipeg, Vancouver, Monterey, Berkeley, San Diego, Hudson River Revival, Old Songs
Festival, etc.

Michael was six years on the board of the National Folk Festival in Washington, DC.,
in 1984, artistic director of Canada's Mariposa Folk Festival, in 1986, Artistic
Director of Philadelphia's "Maritime America Festival" (part of "We The People 200
- the National Celebration of the 200th Anniversary of the United States Constitution"),
and a consultant to many other festivals. He was a member of the Music Panel of the
Maine Arts Commission for four years and head of the panel in 1992-93. For twenty
years Michael was a director of, contributor to, and columnist for the US's oldest
national folk music magazine, Sing Out!

Though he claims to be slowing down, Michael's tours in the 1990s took him from Maine
to Hawaii and back with many stops in between, and 1996-97 saw him in Antarctica,
on the first passenger ship (a Russian icebreaker) ever to sail completely around
the continent. Michael as the ship's entertainer, visited a dozen research bases
and many other sites of historical, zoological and geological interest during the
two-month circumnavigation.

In 1993 Michael founded The Friendship Letter, "a neighborhood newsletter for people
who don't live near each other". After fifteen years of publication, with subscribers
in 48 states, 3 Canadian provinces and the Canary Islands, he ceased publication
in favor of a bit more free time.

At home Michael likes to putter in his workshop, mess around with computers, musical
instruments, books and boats. He says he ever seeks "neat songs" plus good and fun
stuff to share with thousands of friends.